Free The Master Of Strathburn by Amy Rose Bennett Page A

on a diabolical evening like this? With any luck they’d wait until morning.
    The ride continued on at a painstakingly slow pace. The freezing rain grew steadily heavier and the scudding clouds of thick fog made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Every now and again, thunder growled and lightning briefly illuminated the clouds around them. The air was charged with strange currents.
    Robert wrapped his plaid tighter around himself and Jessie, in an effort to share his body heat with her, but it was all for naught. It wasn’t long before both of them were soaked and Jessie was quaking with cold and shock. Despite the abysmal conditions they were in, Robert was astounded to find himself being overtaken by a powerful physical reaction to having Jessie so close to his own body. Try as he might, he couldn’t ignore the soft, curved swell of her breast rubbing against the inside of his arm as he held her securely on his horse, or the press of her lower back and the firm roundness of her buttocks rocking rhythmically against his groin.
    Christ, what am I thinking? He prayed the girl—for judging by her looks she must be no more than nineteen or twenty—would not notice anything untoward as he began to swell.
    His thoughts continued to race rapidly as his horse trod steadfastly forwards through the driving sheets of rain. As he had done this morning, he wondered about the nature of the relationship between this heartbreakingly lovely young woman and Simon. It was puzzling that she had not mentioned any association with his half-brother when she had already openly acknowledged an acquaintance with Lord and Lady Strathburn. Although she had only provided the barest of facts on that score as well. He suddenly wondered why that should be so.
    Was she having an illicit love affair with Simon? Surely if she was in an acknowledged union with his brother, she would have said so.
    And what was she really doing out here alone, in the middle of nowhere, with only a satchel containing a few pieces of food, some guineas and underclothes? He’d discreetly looked into her bag before he’d secured it to the saddle. He found it difficult to believe that she’d been up here in this forbidding landscape for a pleasurable stroll.
    There had to be another reason. He considered again what he had witnessed between Jessie and Simon this morning by the loch. Perhaps they had arranged a clandestine rendezvous at the hunting lodge. That could explain Jessie’s foray up here. Indeed, Robert had used the lodge for such assignations a few times in his youth. It was secluded; the perfect place where lovers could meet without fear of being disturbed.
    However he again dismissed the notion that Simon would be anywhere about at the present moment. When he and Tobias had left the lodge mid-afternoon to go hunting, neither of them had seen a soul in the glen until they’d encountered Jessie. And unless Simon had changed dramatically in the last ten years, it was not likely that his lily-livered half-brother would be up here, particularly in this weather. He had neither the guts nor the stamina and would have turned his tail homeward at the first spot of rain for fear of catching a cold.
    The memory of Simon kissing Jessie savagely, possessively intruded into Robert’s mind again. Anger surged and he resisted the urge to pull Jessie harder against him. Don’t be an idiot, Robert. You don’t know her. She’s not yours.
    He had no idea why he was so envious of Simon’s claim on Jessie. But at this point, it would be useless to examine his completely irrational feelings. He needed to focus his energies on working out how this unexpected turn of events—injuring and now taking care of Jessie—would affect his plans to reunite with his father, and then ultimately his chance at securing a pardon. One thing was certain, given the appalling weather and Jessie’s condition, there was no possibility of him returning to Lochrose tonight.
    At long last